Gear shifting device



Feb. 7, 1933. G, H R K 1,896,893

GEAR SHIFTING DEVICE Filed April '20. 1931 INVEN TOR.

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' 2 TORNEYS- Patented Feb. 7, 1933 N TE STATES TION OF DELAWARE Y IApplicatiqnvfileo. April 20,

This invention relates to improvements in gear shift levers for shiftingtransmission gearsand especially to gear, shift levers adapted to beused in combination withtrans missions containing overrunning clutchelethe gear shift levers heretofore used with transmissions having anoverrunning clutch mechanism, have comprised a solid tapered rod forshifting the gears and a small rod parallel toand secured to the gearshift rod for operating the locking meansforthe over running clutchmechanism.

It is an object of this invention toprovide a tubular gear shift lever.having a comp-aratively large cross sectional area and to form saidlever in such a manner that vibrations arising in the transmission willbe perceptibly dampened before reaching the extremity of the lever towhich the knob is secured. 1' t It isa further objectof this inventionto provide an attractive and unitary knob struc'- ture for a gear shiftlever used to operate a variable speed transmission embodyinganoverrunning clutchmechanism.

It is also. an object to combine a tubular transmission lever with theoperating lever for the look-out of the overrunning clutch mechanism sothat the said operatinglever .lies within and is concealedby the tubularPATENT Q" FFICEf GUY'M. r'rn-R-TsooK, or DETROIT, MICHIGAN, i ssreivon,.BY mns vn Ass'IeNMENTsfTo FREE WHEELING PATENTS 'conron rioiv, orSOUTI-I BEND,.INDIANA,JA CORPORA- GEAR SHIFTING DEVICE 1931 Serial no.531,433.,

and a fra gmentaryportion of the mechanism actuated by the gear shiftlever- Y I Figure 2 is a sectional viewtaken substantially on theline 2,2 of Eigure'l'lookingfin 55 the direction ofthe arrows. 4 .1

' In'the dra wingfin which like refer to like partsthroughout theseveral views,

1 indicates generally-my improved gear shift' if lever which iscomposedof cylindricalsections 2connec'ted by off-set or reducingportions 3, thecircumferential dimension of said cylindrical sectionsgradually decreasing from thefbottom portion of-the Ilever above theuniversal mounting 4 towards thegupper extremity of. thelever, Ithasbeen'found that this construction tends to perceptibly dampen anyvibrationalefie'cts imparted to the lower end of, the-leveribyreasoniof. its

connection with the transmission, in which :1; j

the gear. shift lever.

'This dampening .efiect is probably due to at least two importantfeatures of the pres vibrations may be set up and transmitted'toentdesign. As the gear shift lever is tubular. instead offsolid, it willhave a much greater;

sectional modulus in proportion to its wei ht and will therefore, berendered considera 1y stiffer so that a'harmonic vibration'i'mparted tothe fixed end will "not produce a resilient a 0' distortion ofthe leverthat will tend tobuild up a pendulumvibratiom. Also, as the Weight 7 ofthe Ileverhas been greatly decreased, the vibrational forces will have acomparatively smalleflect- I a l The other feature of the designreferred to is the specific. construction of the tubular shaft whichconsists of a series of cylindrical sections, the walls of each sectionbeing par- I allel to the axis and having no tapen. The

sections however are of progressively decreasing, diameter, from'thefixedpoint to ward thelfreeend of the lever and are joined together attheir respective, ends by sharply tapered or oflset portions, In :thisconstrucs tion, if avibration, especially aharmonie vibrationis impartedto the lever at the fixed end thereof, each portion of thelever wheretwo cylindrical'se'ctions of different diameter are joined together,acts as a-secondary point ofsupport, andfthe vibrations are thereby 1 iprises a non-metallic fballl portion centrally 7 broken up among the;diflerent I cylindrical axially thereo'n'i and 377130 shiftthejgearielements of the transmission'to accomplishithe speed ratiodesired.

1 Mounted on the upper cylindrical section 8 of; 1 i the gear shiftlever, there is a knob generally indicatedas' 5 which, comprises, a ball9' and a sleeve portion 10,"thesleeve portion being adapted to fit-overthe nppercylindrical section 8 'of' the 'gearshift lever and to slide"EIthas' been'pointed'outias one ofthebbjects of this inventiomtoprovide a more at? tractiveknob for a gear 'shiftjlevjer, especial flyfor" a gear shift lever to be usedwith a transmission includ ng an '1overrunning clutch element." At present'thi's knob '.com-

7 [provided with a vertical bore and having a separate buttonin'serted'in' the top for operating the foverrunning I clutch lock-out.'1. The presentt'invention"provides a preferably non} maniac knob'havingan integral sleeve; This sleeve portionfits around the free endofthe V gear-shift leverand is adapted to move the lever for shiftingthe'gearsil The sleeve portion is alsoaxiallyf slidable upon the gearaxially through 'thefjtubular gearl'shiftlever is axially movable upondepression" of i the lmob; This rodmember l3 isfeperatively connected-atl t to a slid able element 15 which 'hasanextension 16tha'tcooperateswith stop shiftleverwhereby the entire knob. may be manually depressedrelative to the gearshift lever. Secured within the ball portion 9 ofthe knob there is a'inetallicsleeve 11 internal- 1y; threaded to receivethe threaded upperend 12 of arod'memb'er 13 which extends membersi17'and l8 to limit the motion of the sliding bar 7'Vfo'r afpurpos'e tobelater de- 7 7 fined. The sli'dable 'ele'ment15 consists of a i 1cylindrical portion 15*,slidable axially in d 7 r lever 1, and havingonthe lower end thereof side :the'lower endfof the tubulargear shift 7extensions 16 which project laterally through 16 with theto pfoftheslots 40.

slots 40 in the tubular lever l to normally engage the stops 17 and 18'.p The cylindrical member 15 has a'nf axial bore 41 to receive the supperend of a compression spring 23, and a second axial bore {12 to receivethe lowerend of the rod 13. Upward motion 'of'them'em- 'ber is limitedbycontact of. the extensions 1 Mountedin the lower end of the lever b e- Etween thesliding element 15 an d'theelement' 6 vthereeis a coiledcompression springf23 which Etendsio resist downward motion of the bro di1 3,;o'n'e end of the spring being sup -l ported inthe depression 33inthe member 6, v

42 in the member 15. From an inspection and the opposite end extendinginto the bore of Figure 2, it will be observed that the ex tension 16 ofthe slidable element 15 and the adjustable stopmembers 17 and 18 arepositioned eccentrically of the axis of'the lever 1 upon opposite sidesthereof for a purpose to be later described. I I .iAt spaced intervalsupon the rod lg there is provided a series of guiding elements 19, eachelement consisting of-a fibrous washer member 220 supported on eitherside by a e 7 smaller washer member 21 which in turn is 8.

secured to the rod by protrusions 22. struck out of the rod 13: oneither side of the guiding 7 element.

fits ina socket 25 "in the uppermost portionof the transmission cover26, Below the ball ,is a packing member 27 and'below thl SPHICkingmember is anspiral spring 28, which has, i

an abutment-29lin the cover 26 andthrusts' upwardly against the p'ackingmember 27 tol compress the packing member and'causeit .to form a sealbetween the ball, 243 and the i cover, 26, and which also causes thepackingv 4 member to press upwardly on the ball 24 to" retainjit in'position in the socket 25. Se-

curedto the'shaft'l 'and extending about the upper portion of the cover26, there is a guard V,

plate 30:.

The stop members 17 and 18 are adjustably secured inthecover 26 byebeingscrew threaded therein at '31andareprovided with position.

alock nujtf32 to retain them in adjusted. ,i

The-operationgofjthe device as' follows i. Y

7 In-thisparticular construction the overrunning clutch element, notshown, lies between the intermediate and third speed'iele- V mfll ts ofthe transmissionflhefirst mare-3 V verse speed elements notbeingafi'ected there-I by; The gear shiftleverlltherefore, may; i bemoved to place the transmission mecha nisinin first-"speed or reverse byshifting the bar 37 without having-the motion thereof V afi'ected bythestop members 17' and '18 and the extension 16, due'to the eccentricpost' o tionsof these elements as 'described'above.,

However, in -'shifting into second; or third speed by shifting the barZ,theex'tension 16" V will come into contact with the stop member Y 17 or18 and this'eontact will limitithe mo tion of the sliding bar 7 to suchan extent that the overrunning clutch .elementwillbe operative. When itis desiredto render in:

operative or to lockout the o'verrunnin'g clutch mechanism, the111101315 is manually depressed to move-it axially along the'lever 1;This motion of the knob moves the-trod" 13 axially of the lever 1againstthe resist-;

ance of thegcoiled'spri-ng23 and'so altersthe position of'the member 15,that the extension 16will no longercontact with the stopmember 17 or 18.In this position of the member 15, a further motion of the lever 1 inthe direction of shifting will carry the sliding bar 7 beyond thepreviously limited position and will render inoperative or lock out theoverrunning clutch mechanism.

Having now fully described my invention and the operations thereof sothat its con-' struction and use will be clearly apparent to othersskilled in the art, what I desire to protect by Letters Patent of theUnited States is as follows: 1 r 1. A gear shift lever comprising, astepped tubular outer member, an inner member axi ally movable withinsaid outer member, a knob carried by one end of said inner memberslidable on said outer member, a stop member carried by the other end ofsaid inner member slidable in said outer member, and guide means betweensaid inner member and said outer member comprising, a nonmetallic washersurrounding said inner member and bearing against said outer member,

and metallic washers surrounding said inner member and bearing againstsaid non-metal lic washer retained in position by protuberances struckout of said inner member.

2. A gear shift lever comprising, a stepped tubular outer memberprovided with oppositely disposed slots in one end, an inner memberaxially movable within said outer member, a knob carried by one end ofsaid inner member slidable on said outer member, 7

and a stop member carried by the other end of said inner member slidablein said outer member, said stop means comprising, a cylindrical portionaxially slidable in said outer member, and lateral extensions projectingon opposite sides of said cylindrical portion through said slots in saidouter member.

3. In gear shifting means for a variable I speed vehicle transmission,apair of slidable transmission elements, and a gear shift levercomprising, a stepped tubular outer member, an inner member axiallymovable within said outer member, a knob carried by the upper end ofsaid inner member slidable on said outer member, a stop member carriedbythe lower end of said inner member slidable in said outermember, amember having a depending portion for operatively engaging saidtransmission elements fixed in the lower portions, the reduction betweenthe intermediate portion and one end portion comprising, a series ofstepped sections joined by integral offset portions.

5. A tubular gear shift lever having an enlarged bent intermediateportion and reduced end portions, the reduction between theinterprising, a series of stepped sections joined mediate portion andone end portion comby integral ofi'set portions, and the reductionbetween the intermediate portion and the other end portion comprising asingle integral offset portion.

6. A gear shift lever comprising, atubular outer member havingconsecutive cylindrical portions successively decreasing in diameterfrom an intermediate portion to one end thereof, an inner memberslidable in said outer member, and guide means comprising,

disk shaped washers mounted on saidinner member, said washers beingofdifferent diameters to fit within diiferent'cylindrical portions of saidouter member.

Signed by, me at Detroit, Michigan, this 14 day of April, 1931.

" GUY MLHARTSOOK, v

